Recall

Retrieving information not currently in conscious awareness

Recognition

Identifying items previously learned (like multiple choice)

Relearning

Learning something more quickly when encountered again

Encoding

Getting information into memory

Storage

Retaining encoded information over time

Retrieval

Getting information back out of memory storage

Parallel processing

The brain’s ability to handle many aspects of a problem at once

Sensory memory

Very brief recording of sensory information (a few seconds or less)

Short-term memory

Activated memory holding a few items briefly before storage or forgetting

Long-term memory

Relatively permanent

Working memory

Active processing of incoming info plus retrieved long-term info

Explicit memory

Memory of facts and experiences we consciously know and declare

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental info and well-learned skills

Implicit memory

Retention of learned skills or conditioned associations without conscious awareness

Iconic memory

A very brief sensory memory of visual stimuli (tenths of a second)

Echoic memory

A brief sensory memory of auditory stimuli (3–4 seconds)

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar

Mnemonics

Memory aids

Spacing effect

Better long-term retention when study is spaced over time

Testing effect

Enhanced memory after retrieving information

Shallow processing

Encoding on a basic level

Deep processing

Encoding semantically

Semantic memory

Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge

Episodic memory

Explicit memory of personally experienced events

Hippocampus

Brain structure that helps process explicit memories for storage

Memory consolidation

Neural storage of a long-term memory

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant event

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Increase in synapse firing potential after brief

Priming

Activation of associations in memory

Encoding specificity principle

Idea that cues specific to an event/person help with recall

Mood-congruent memory

Tendency to recall experiences consistent with one’s current mood

Serial position effect

Tendency to recall best the first and last items in a list

Anterograde amnesia

Inability to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

Inability to retrieve past memories

Proactive interference

When old information disrupts recall of new information

Retroactive interference

When new learning disrupts recall of old information

Repression

Banishing painful or unacceptable memories into the unconscious (Freud’s theory)

Reconsolidation

When memories are retrieved

Misinformation effect

When misleading information corrupts one’s memory of an event

Source amnesia

Attributing an event to the wrong source (forgetting where/when info was learned)